Creating video tutorials in Windows

If you ever needed to introduce your application(s)/technology to new developers or just create an end user tutorials, here are a few tips that helped me when I was creating instructional videos.

I used CamStudio video capture software and iWisoft video converter. With first application, you will record your video and with second application, you can convert it to desired format. After that, you might want to integrate something like  JWPlayer  in your Wiki site (if you do not have one already) and play the videos.

My setting for video codec is Cinepac Codec by Radius and Volume options are set to default mic and PCM format. When converting, I usually select MP4 format (Apple TV MPEG-4). This should cut the file size ~3 times and still retain the good quality of the recording. You can, of course, adjust more video/audio settings for different formats using only CamStudio.

When recording instructional videos please keep in mind to:

• Speak slowly and clearly
• Prepare your concept in advance and practice if you need to
• Keep your videos short and to the point (15 min/video should be enough as users need to absorb a lot of information in short time)
• Start the video with agenda that is not too complex and yet clearly states what the intent of the video is

Please let me know if you have a better approach or suggestion and if this information helped you.

Thanks.